A Guy Was Interrogated For Doing Math On Flight, Passenger Fears He Is A Terrorist

A flight was deferred for over two hours on Thursday after a suspicious traveler suspected a teacher working out math conditions was a terrorist, the academic says. American Airlines affirmed that on Thursday evening , a flight from Philadelphia to Syracuse was delayed after a female co-passenger said she was debilitated and “communicated some worries” about the conduct of a male traveler. Representative Casey Norton couldn’t affirm the names of either individual because of privacy protection.

Graphical Image showing math equation

“She told flight team that she had security worries about the man, subsequent to seeing him write in a foreign script ( actually he was solving some math equation) . It ended up being a totally differential situation.”

This suspect was an Ivy League economist ” Guido Menzio ” who is best known for his relatively technical work on search theory, which helped earn him a tenured associate professorship at the University of Pennsylvania as well as stints at Princeton and Stanford’s Hoover Institution.

Image Source/The Washington Post

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Menzio told the Washington Post the pilot seemed embarrassed when he showed him the equations on price-setting that the woman seemed suspicious of. Guido Menzio is a financial educator at Italian University of Pennsylvania financial and he told The Washington Post that he was the suspect. Last year, he was awarded the prestigious Carlo Alberto Medal, given to the best Italian economist under 40.

Image Source/Via Facebook

“I thought they were trying to get clues about her illness, instead, they tell me that the woman was concerned that I was a terrorist because I was writing strange things on a pad of paper.” – Menzio said via email.

Image Source/Via Facebook

American Airlines spokesperson Casey Norton said that the Menzio was questioned by airport security, not law enforcement. The flight was delayed for two hours. Initially, it was scheduled for a 7:20 p.m. departure but actually departed at 9:42 p.m. Menzio was on the plane, but his former co-passenger opted to take another flight.